The controversy over Apple removing ICEBlock from the App Store is showing no signs of ending. The latest development is a former Apple marketing veteran challenging Tim Cook on the company’s human rights values.
Wiley Hodges worked for Apple for more than 20 years, the last 15 of them as a director of marketing and product management, and he’s written an open letter to Cook expressing his dismay at the decision …
A quick recap on ICEBlock
ICEBlock provided notifications of locations at which ICE operations were being carried out. It was created in response to what was considered overly aggressive action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, which saw multiple examples of legal residents and even US citizens being detained. Tourists and business travellers have also been arrested and detained at airports for social media posts critical of the administration, leading many to choose to shelve plans to visit the US.
The Streisand Effect saw it became the most popular social networking app in the App Store back in the summer. It had just 20,000 users until the White House condemned it, at which point it rocketed up the charts, ending up taking the number three slot in the entire store.
In something like a scene from a mob movie, DHS security secretary Kristi Noem threatened CNN with prosecution just for reporting the existence of the app, and US attorney general Pam Bondi told developer Joshua Aaron that “he better watch out.”
Controversy as Apple pulled it from the App Store
Bondi last week demanded that Apple remove the app from the App Store, claiming that it put ICE agents at risk, and the company complied.
“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps. Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store.”
Joshua Aaron said the safety claim was false.
“Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move. Apple has claimed they received information from law enforcement that ICEBlock served to harm law enforcement officers. This is patently false. (…) We are determined to fight this with everything we have. Our mission has always been to protect our neighbors from the terror this administration continues to reign down on the people of this nation.”
Many agreed with him, accusing Apple of cowardice in giving in to a demand which would never have held up in court.
Wiley Hodges challenges Tim Cook on Apple’s values
Former senior Apple marketing exec Wiley Hodges, who started his career at NeXT, has written an open letter to CEO Tim Cook. He praises Cook’s skillful management of the company and its stand against the FBI in the San Bernardino case, and contrasts this with Apple’s response to the ICEBlock demand.
[In the FBI case] you took a risky stand that was in keeping with the principles you had articulated for the company […] The removal of ICEBlock without evidence of the government either providing a lawful basis for such a demand or following a legal process to effect its removal represents an erosion of this principled stance […] I used to believe that Apple were unequivocally ‘the good guys.’ I passionately advocated for people to understand Apple as being on the side of its users above all else. I now feel like I must question that.
He ends with an impassioned plea to Cook to demonstrate that Apple is better than this.
I hope that as a man of integrity and principle you can understand how outrageous this situation is. Even more, I hope you recognize how every inch you voluntarily give to an authoritarian regime adds to their illegitimately derived power. We are at a critical juncture in our country’s history where we face the imminent threat of the loss of our constitutional republic. It is up to all of us to demand that the rule of law rather than the whims of a handful of people—even elected ones—govern our collective enterprise. Apple and you are better than this. You represent the best of what America can be, and I pray that you will find it in your heart to continue to demonstrate that you are true to the values you have so long and so admirably espoused.
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Image: ICEBlock graphic on background by Nick Nice on Unsplash